White/Green Mountain ride 2009

[ionbeam]

The 'Beams rolled home safe, sound and over fed around 5:00. Once again it took us nearly 6 hrs to make a 1.25 hr ride. I dunno how that keeps happening

We enjoyed the Green Mtns ride, thanks Tom! We enjoyed spending the evenings with the best friends we had never met before.

+90 degrees with the dew point over 70 is hot anywhere. It is hotter other places but 90/70 is hot anyplace. The main rides were perfect blue sky days. The splinter faction that went north on Sunday afternoon got a short refreshing shot of rain.

Best wishes to Ron, we hope he recovers quickly. Even though he didn't invite us along for his Annual Lobster Run Ride this year. I'll see if I can find a side car so he can make HIS Annual Rib Ride

We have ridden the White Mountains ride a whole lot over the years so we chose to do only the Green Mountain Ride. No matter what, we wanted to be at the Fireside Inn when the White Ride came home so we could say hi to everyone.

I have 3.8 gig of pictures to work through! The following are a very few starter pixs. I have full size pixs should anyone want one. A lot more pixs to follow once I have time to sort through them all. Better pixs to come. Due to a weak mind and short memory I may have some names wrong, please (please) let me know so I can correct the pixs and also call you by the right name next time we meet

Foggy, gray morning. All the fog would burn off and turn into humidity as the day progressed. First one out, Michael.

Ambush photo of John and Julie:

Dave & Ann

Art and Felicia, thanks for the fun! I couldn't laugh, talk and eat at the same time. Thanks for waiting for me to finish supper.

White Mountains Ride leader Fred, gettin' tucked in for the Green Mountain Ride:

Pete and Carol Ann. Hope you had as much fun as we did. With any luck we will see you all at EOM for more laughs.

(L to R) George, Ed and Green Mountain Ride leader Tom, "Is the map upside down or am I confused?"

Barry, remember to go home, your family would miss you :lol:

Michael, not in Kansas any more. Dressing up, tuning in and getting adjusted for another day of dirt roads.

The Road Warrior ready to take on another day of fun!

Welcome to Vermont

Stop to pick up lunch at awesome Zoey's, if you are in the area, do not miss this sandwich shop!!!

A few misc. ride pixs:

 

[Fred W]

Finally some pix! And of course it was the 'Beams to be first in coming forth with them.

Those pics are great (as usual) Alan. But is that the same ride we were on? Boy, I missed the bear statue and the field full of sunflowers completely!! But I do recognize all the characters. I'm really looking forward to seeing most of you'se guys again in TN.

 

[ionbeam]

Finally some pix...But is that the same ride we were on

Ok, did you see this?

Really, no Photochop. I have another showing the tails sticking out to the road.

 

[snikr]

I'm with you Fred. I didn't see the bear or the corn field "critters". It must have been the "heat".

Tom

 

[08FJR4ME]

WOW, Some amazing pictures. Cant wait to see the rest.

That's the problem being left handed, you allways turn your wheel in the oposite direction as everyone else. I will try to keep that in mind. :huh:

 

[08FJR4ME]

I missed the Bear but I did see the Dino's. There was a shark as well.

 

[TAZ1300]

Finally made it home. After Ed left us Mike, Barry and I stayed the night at Stowe, started out about 7am rode up through the Islands of lake Champlain, stopped by the Canadian border so Mike could get his "I rode to the border pic" , rode down 89 a bit then jumped on 100 (beautiful and fun road) and rode to southern Vermont ( then Barry split off to go home and we jumped on 91 near the Mass. border in order to make the 730 ferry home. I had an awesome time meeting and riding with everyone and look forward to doing it again at EOM. This weekend we covered about 1300 miles and now I know know what I need/want to make the FJR an even better touring bike. Thanks again to everyone involved with putting together this meet.

George

 

[road runner]

A BIG THANKS to Fred and Tom for putting this together, and for doing a great job leading the group on both days. :clapping: It was really good seeing all of you again. Plus we got to make some new friends.

Felicia and I had a great time. This was her first group ride and she had a great time. Great roads, great scenery, and most of all great people. It was really nice visiting with the ionbeams during dinner and breakfast (sorry about your dinner getting cold).

We had a great time and can't wait for next year. I think Felicia may have a mild dose of the 2 wheel fever now, because now she wants a pair of mesh riding pants (especial after seeing Ron go down). It was something seeing her spring into action when Ron went down. She ran over to him and checked his vitals. Hope your doing well Ron.

Other than Ron's mishap It was a great weekend

See you all soon.

Art & Felicia

 

[cota95]

Looks like you guys had a great ride. I hope to make it next year.

 

[zip]

I left Mike and George at Brattleboro, VT last night at nearly 5, I think. I arrived home last night at 7:10, staying off the freeway for the most part - making it a 12 hour day with pretty short breaks. I know we rode for at least 9 hours yesterday... And it was awesome! I cannot begin to count the number of 80mph curves Monday. Traffic was really light in all the best sections of road. It was incredible. Really, really lucky.

I learned a lot on this ride and the experience exceeded my expectations in every way. Everyone was tremendously friendly. The scenery was some of the best I'd seen in about 48 states and it was a blast to see it from the FJR. The bike impressed me more than I'd ever expected. And then there was the riding. Wow!!!

Sincere thanks to Fred, Tom, Ed and George for leading with such competence and great pace on each of those days. It was great to simply follow along and know we were headed in the right direction all the time and on great roads of all kinds. It's really cool to watch bikes taking corners in front of you. There's kind of a choreography in the curves that happens that I hadn't really experienced before. Wish I'd captured that on video.

Notes to self:

Get a frigging Zumo. My current, non-moto GPS is just dangerous because it's so difficult to see in daylight.

Get a camera that's usable on the ride - still or video. I missed a lot of stuff that I really would've like to have shared and remembered later. Frustrating. Thankfully, you all took such great pics. Looking forward to seeing those.

Get a real seat. After a thousand miles, I'm paying the price. Didn't really give me trouble until the last day. After my last dinner stop, I literally didn't want to get back on the bike for the boring roads near home. It just hurt.

Get some of those LD shorts if I'm ever doing this kind of thing again. (And I am.)

I'm still learning to ride. Made two dumb mistakes, and I was fortunate that they didn't end up worse. (Both were low-speed: one crossing a double yellow when some gravel freaked me out in a tight corner; the second when I almost hit George as he changed lanes in a town to make a turn as I was sightseeing.)

I think you're supposed to be some kind of electrical/mechanical genius to own and upgrade this bike. Do some more reading. Try some stuff. There's lots of support.

That massage chair at The Fireside was ideal. Will lobby the Mrs. about that...

Speaking of the Mrs., still torn whether to introduce her to riding or not! Word is that once you get a pillion on, it's difficult to go without 'em! But really impressed with the skill of the riders who were two up and the courage of their passengers. It was cool to watch.

Amazing experience in all. Great to meet everyone on this ride and thanks again to the organizers and friendly participants.

 

[jmarran]

Sooooo glad I decided to do this last weekend!

Big thanks to Fred & Tom for their great job of planning, organizing and leading.

I'm hoping I can get some pics up tonight, in process of moving so was busy after work last night. I didn't take too many, but did get a few nice ones. Julie got some nice shots while riding.

I do so love these get-togethers, and I especially love having someone to share them with now too!

John

 

[08FJR4ME]

Ride Report posted here:

https://www.fjrforum.com/forum//index.php?s...t=0#entry629254

 

[snikr]

Thanks for all the kinds words guys. It'll make it easy for me to pull together next years ride. Pass on any ideas, I always listen.

Tom

 

[Fred W]

Well... since you asked: Next year how about heading up RT 2 through the Champlain islands? I've never been there and was a bit envious of Taz, Mikey and Zip.

I'm thinking Hurricane Mountain Rd and a piece of western Maine for the NH day next year.

 

[ionbeam]

Last of the people pixs; the next round will be ride pixs. When looking at these pixs I realized what a somber event lunch was :lol: This is what a hot, stuffed, happy group of people looks like. Really!

George:

John:

Dave:

Pete:

Ed:

Barry:

Art:

Joann:

Tom, the Green Mountain Ride leader:

Fred, the White Mountain Ride leader:

Helen, Mrs. Ionbeam (who sez, publish that picture and you are dead meat)

Julie:

Ann:

 

[snikr]

We were a rather serious looking crew. Could it have been the HEAT?

Tom

 

[Fred W]

Looks like Ed and zip were the only ones having any fun at lunch.

Great pics, Alan. But what about the scenery!!

I still have to get our (point and shoot) pics uploaded.

 

[road runner]

Well... since you asked: Next year how about heading up RT 2 through the Champlain islands? I've never been there and was a bit envious of Taz, Mikey and Zip.
I'm thinking Hurricane Mountain Rd and a piece of western Maine for the NH day next year.

Any good lobsta places in western Maine ?

 

[ultracvo88]

This weekend was freakin AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Best riding of my life!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Except for the gravel dirt road!!! :dribble: lol...lol...lol...

Want to thank everyone who got this ride set up!!!! It was good times!!!! George you are the best riding partner ive ever had!!! Thanks for putting up with me....lol

And sorry for making you guys wait in the rain while I got my rain gear on.... lol... I felt so bad about that!!

It was 4 days of riding adventure and loved every minute of it!!! Again except for that offroad "bulls...t" Anyone who rides that kind of road on an FJR on purpose has some serious "ballz" lo....lol..... sorry Fred!!! lol...lol..... At least I get to say I did it on my FJR.

I even got my pic at the border!!! My friends and family could not believe when they got that shot of me on their email.... Good times!!! Monday was some serious riding!! 7 am to 7pm with little stops!! 485 miles just on Monday!! No big deal to george but for me and barry it was insane!! Look forward to doing it again real soon!!!

Next stop EOM!! Hopefully work will be slow so I can get away!!!

FJR's Rock!!!!!

 

[jmarran]

I'm glad to see you had as much fun on "New England" roads as you did Michael. Funny thing is, that's about the fourth gravel road ride like that I've done this year so far. I guess when you explore VT &/or NH, you will end up on roads like that. I know of one that leads to an amazing waterfall near Jamaica VT.

Sounds like you're feeling exactly how I did from my first big FJR trip, so I truly know how good it feels!

Hope to see everyone soon!

I will get pics up soon, just taking a wee bit longer due to work and stuff.

John